Pathetically Unperfect
by EleKat
Summary: Joanne Jefferson doesn't like trying new things, so she is not exciting for travelling across the country and attending Miss Porters, a school formerly known for being an all girls school but now admitting both genders. From her French room mate, too Maureen Johnson, How will Joanne survive at her new school? AU PRESENT DAY
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own RENT and any characters or themes associated with RENT**

One

Joanne Jefferson couldn't believe her mother would be so cruel. But it was happening, Joanne's worst nightmare. Boarding school.

Miss porters was a boarding school in Washington. The school had starting admitting boys three years prior, for before it had been an all-girls school. Her parents, Nancy and Fredrick Jefferson, thought it would be an amazing place for their exceptional daughter. The exception daughter did not.

Joanne had wanted to stay in New York where all her friends were and at her old school where she knew all the teachers. Even though she knew this school was better academically, she was adamant she could get herself into Harvard with credits from her old school. Joanne hated change. Loathed it.

Another thing she disliked was that she'd be sharing a room. While signing the papers for the school, she found out that she'd be sharing a room with another girl in her grade or a year older. Joanne was not impressed.

Getting to the school was easy, it just involved a plane ride and a car ride. Getting inside was another matter.

To get a room, you had to get a parking spot, and go wait in line for a key outside your dorm building. All buildings were named after someone famous person from way-back-when. Hers was the Mary Barrett Dyer building.

Waiting in line was horrible, since it was very sunny and Joanne didn't have on a tank top or anything especially cool.

Sighing, she looked up at the clear blue sky and wondered if it would always be like this. Horrible heat. Then she remembered she was up North, near Canada. It would be cold again soon.

"You're just not used to it, dear." Her mom said and patted her shoulder awkwardly. Joanne tried to smile at her mom in reassurance but couldn't do it. She definitely didn't want to be there when she saw a man, who could be the size of a bear, hug a smaller blonde man.

"Roger! Missed you buddy!" the man said in a booming voice. Joanne winced and moved forward in the line, she realized she was now first.

"Joanne Jefferson, Mary Barrett Dyer dorm." Nancy spoke for her daughter. Joanne knew there was no going back now. She was stuck here for ten months. Joy.

She was positively ecstatic.

Not.

"Here is your key, you're on floor five door 666." The lady said. As Joanne turned away, her key in her hand, she spoke quietly to herself.

"The devils number." she muttered under her breath.

Grabbing her phone out of her pocket, she turned it on to see how much battery she had left. Sixty four percent.

She slid it back into her pocket and helped her parents unload the car, they rented, onto a dolly.

"Now, after we take this up to your room, your mother and I are going to get your other things from the post office. Okay, Kitten?" Fredrick asked his daughter.

"Yes Daddy." Joanne said meekly. Fredrick smiled jollily at his daughter as the three made their way inside the air conditioned elevator.

Joanne had always hated elevators. The idea of being in an inclosed, small box wasn't appealing to her. Expecially when you thought about what would happen if the cabels snapped.

When the doors opened they revealed a hallway with white walls. Walking out, Joanne looked to her left and saw an open room with couches. Mentally, she made a note to look later.

They walked down the right halway and went down the numbers.

_661… 663… 665… 667…_

Confused, Joanne looked at the other side of the halway and saw her room number. _666_.

"Ready?" she looked at her mom, took a deep breath and unlocked the door.

Opening it she saw that the room wasn't horrible like she thought it would be. Obviously, the other girl hadn't gotten there yet. The room had two single beds on either side of a good sized window. The door was on the wall right across from the window, both beds were against the walls and there were two desks between them.

On the same wall as the door was a table that had a TV on it and underneath a mini fridge, there was also a closet.

On her application Joanne had put that she wanted a loft bed, so the bed she assumed was hers, which was straight across from the door.

"We can fit your desk under your bed." Her father said as he looked at it, measuring with his eyes. "then we can go get a dresser for you." Joanne nodded not speaking.

Finally her parents left her with her boxes and had instructed her to move her desk under the bed.

Joanne starting doing as she was told and wondered why she had to do this. Was there a point? There was, for more room.

The window streched out the whole way between the two beds. And when Joanne finally had her desk under her bed, she looked across the room.

The other bed was also a loft bed, but a dresser/desk combo was already under it. The other desk would be pointless, Joanne concluded.

Her boxes were stacked at the end of her bed, and her suitcases beside her bed.

Joanne once again pulled out her phone and sent a text to her best friend;

_At the school, in my new room. My roommate isn't here yet –Jo_

Joanne opened the box that was labeled for her desk and started to pull things out and place them in the drawers, when there was a knock on the door.

She openeded it to see a box, and her parents.

"Got it!" Her mom said happily as she pushed her way inside and her parents started to put it together. Joanne sighed and climbed up onto the bed. Feeling her phone buz in her shorts pocket, she pulled it out;

_Bro, send pix. work. Ttyl –Kat_

Joanne rolled her eyes at her friends incorrect use of the word bro, the incorrect spelling of "pics" and the incorrect use of the at symbol.

_Later –Jo_

"Joanne, do you want it where the desk used to be?" Nancy asked.

"Yes." Replied Joanne.

* * *

><p>Finally the work was done and her parents were leaving. Her roommate still hadn't shown up but she tried not to think of it.<p>

She put all her stuff away, books on the book part of the dresser (the side had a bookshelf) and her clothing in the drawers.

When she was pulling out her quilt (black and white large pokadots) the door was unlocked and opened, and in walked her roommate.

The girl had an air of self confidence about her. Her hair was dark blonde and her skin pale. The people behind her were obviously not her parents, but were carying in the boxes for her. Then, as Joanne sat there and watched, they pulled her desk appart that was under the window and then left.

The girl completely ignored Joanne as she put her things away and Joanne tried not to stare.

"I do not want a room mate." She said in a thick french accent.

"Oh, sorry." Joanne said quickly.

"I applied to get a room wiz out one." Continued the girl, ignoring Joanne, "but zey insisted I 'ave one."

"If it helps I don't want one either."

" 'ow would zat 'elp?" the girl asked. Joanne shrugged.

"I'm Joanne." Said the mocha skinned girl as she held out her hand to be shaken. The girl stared at it for a moment, wondering whether she should shake it or not, but then did. Hesitently.

"I am Élénore Babineaux, zee French Ambassadors daughter." Élénore said. Joanne smiled at her before turning back to her phone.

* * *

><p>Joanne had packed four boxes of granola bars, a family sized box of cheerios, a case of water, a pack of gum, a jar of peanut butter, and a jar of nutella. She was sure she could at least get through September.<p>

Not liking new things or exploring meant that Joanne was not going to try and find the dining hall or the small café's that were scattered across campus.

That night there class schedules had been emailed to them, so Joanne had written hers out on a time table in her planner.

Her first class was English in the George Washington building. (housing buildings named after females, class ones named after males)

She walked out, grabbing her key as she left. Élénore was still getting ready, doing her fancy makeup.

Joanne walked out the doors and through the outside/inside tunnels. They were technically outside, but had a roof and things blocking the snow from coming in.

Joanne felt self contous in her cut off shorts and strapless black shirt. Nobody seemed to notice her, and girls were wearing much worse.

Finally, when she reached the building she walked up the stairs to the second floor.

She found a seat at the front of class, in front of the teacher's desk beside the window. A perfect place to get her work done and be able to look outside at the same time.

The class slowly filled up and Joanne felt butterfly's in her stomach. Not the nice ones you got when you had a crush either, the bad ones you got when scared. She hated to be scared, it felt as though she was out of control.

Joanne needed control.

Soon the door closed and she looked up from her book (Fangirl) so see the teacher walk in.

The teacher was pretty, with long flaming red hair. She took off her glasses and look at all the students carefully.

"I am Professor Maclean." She said with a slight British accent. "I would tell you I am just here to teach you English. That is not true."

She walked over to the board and wrote something down, _Originality_.

"You are all in the eleventh grade now. And in a year you will be applying for scholarships and universities. But at the moment, you're all following a set of guidelines that English teachers have told you to use. Paragraphs are seven to ten sentences. You must write color with an O, no U. Z is pronounced Zee not Zed.

"Now you all need to find yourselves, so while working through English this year I am going to try and help you do that. Give you the writing freedom many of your other teachers may have not done, and will still not do." She looked around the class. "Everyone has their own writing style, and by the end of the year I hope to be able to tell yours from the person sitting next to you."

Joanne smiled a bit, she knew she liked this class. Because if she didn't, she would've been an idiot.


	2. Chapter 2

When she got back to her dorm that afternoon and opened the door, there were two girls instead of one. Élénore was there, but also was another girl.

Joanne felt herself annoyed at this. The girl had full lips, cheek bones, a prominent jaw and long, wavy brown hair.

"Ignore 'er." Élénore said to the girl who was now staring at Joanne with hazel eyes. Joanne felt as though she was in the spot light and decided she had enough of it, so she climbed up onto her bed.

The girl though, was determined not to ignore her.

"I'm Maureen." She said with a wide smile (and an American accent).

"Joanne." Joanne muttered before grabbing her laptop.

There was a ledge in the wall that she could put it on. It also had a plug in it. Very useful.

Joanne loaded up at laptop as Élénore finally put on her dress and pulled her hair up.

"Ve are going out. Do not wait up." The French girl said. Joanne shrugged and continued to type away on her laptop.

She didn't want to wait up. Why would she? Besides, she had English to do.

She had to write a paragraph about who she was. That was a hard question though, who was she?

_Never got pix of ur room. –Kat_

Joanne looked down at her phone, sighed and took a few photos from her perch. Then sent it to her friend before looking at her laptop.

_I am Joanne Johnson_

Joanne sighed. How did you write about yourself? Either it would be a very bland paragraph or make her seem self centered. There would be no winning.

Sighing, Joanne went to youtube instead and click one of the channels she was subscribed to.

The channel was called _The-Girl-Who-Read. _She loved booktube so decided to watch the girls review of Stuck by Lightning, a book Joanne had been meaning to read.

_Cool room! I wish –Kat_

Joanne rolled her eyes. Kat had not been allowed to come to the school no matter how much she had wanted to. How Joanne wished she was able to switch spots with her friend at that moment.

_You don't wish. I live with someone who doesn't want me here, I don't want her here either. Actually, I don't want to be here. –Jo_

Joanne jumped onto the floor and went into her desk. Grabbed a granola bar she took a bite and starting calculating how much time she had to do this paragraph.

"A week," she spoke aloud to herself. "But if I get it done quickly I will have time for stuff I may get tomorrow."

Joanne sighed. She wished she didn't have to go to this stupid school where she knew no one.

She had forgotten a spoon which meant venturing outside of the room. Joanne wasn't ready for this quest (considering she was in PJ shorts and a tank top) so she put on a black hoodie, put up the hood and put on her green, ankle height.

_Quiet and swift, like a ninja!_ Joanne said to herself in her head. She started padding down the hallway to the sitting area she had seen the day before.

When she entered she saw a small kitchen just off it surrounded by large windows. She walked into the kitchen when she noticed that nobody was there, and was just trying to find the cutlery drawer when someone spoke behind her.

"What are you looking for?" Joanne spun around to be face to face with a latina girl with long brown hair. The girl stared at her with pretty brown eyes.

"Umm.. a spoon." Joanne quietly said. The girl nodded and reached around her to open the drawer.

"I'm Mimi." The girl said with a smile.

"Joanne." Replied Joanne with a small smile. "are you new?" the girl chucked slightly.

"Nope, been here a year. I take it you are though." Joanne blushed and smiled. "Don't worry, you get used to it. What grade are you in?"

"Eleventh."

"Me too!" Joanne smiled. This meant she had someone she would at least know the name of in her grade. If you counted her roommate (actually she didn't know her grade) and the Maureen girl.

"Cool! Well, I'm room 667 if you wanna hang out anytime!" Mimi said with a small wave before walking off.

Joanne smiled slightly before sneaking back to her room and grabbed a jar of peaunut butter from the drawer. Sitting at her desk, she started to eat it and wonder when Élénore was going to be back.

When she felt slightly full but not hungry anymore she put the jar back.

_This is so unhealthy…._ She thought as she walked back to the kitchen area, washed the spoon and put it away before walking back to her room and climbing onto her bunk with her cell phone.

_Got a bf. Txt u deets l8r –Kat_

Joanne rolled her eyes. Kat had gotten a different boyfriend at least once a month, if not twice. It wasn't an odd thing for her to have a new one.

She sighed and pulled up tumblr and started going down her dashboard when the door opened and in walked Élénore in her fancy dress.

The French girl completely ignored her and Joanne her. Joanne didn't want to talk to a girl who was acting like she was better than everyone else, so just continued to tumbl.

"May I turn off zee light?" Élénore asked.

"Umm… yeah." Joanne said as she plugged in her phone and went under the covers with her clothing on. Usually, she would never do that but she was too shy to change in front of her roommate.

She laid on her side, facing out. She had a thing and couldn't face the wall when she slept. It was only precautionary. What if someone tried to kill her in her sleep? She couldn't have that, Joanne knew she had too much potential for that.

* * *

><p>The next morning after eating a granola bar, Joanne hurried to her first class of the day. Today she had social studies. Not something that was entirely interesting to her but something she needed to graduate.<p>

She wasn't exactly excited but knew she'd live, especially when she saw Mimi who waved her over.

"Thank god, I hate this class." The Latina said with a smile before pulling her backpack off the chair beside her so Joanne could sit.

"Same." Joanne replied as she pulled out the things she'd need for the class.

When the teacher walked to the front of the desk, Mimi turned to Joanne;

"Don't tell my boyfriend this, but that professor is H-O-T. Hot! Don't ya think?" she asked.

"Sure?"

"Don't you think so?" Mimi asked. Joanne rolled her eyes at the typical female thing of thinking all professors are hot.

"I'm gay." She said simply.

"Oh! Don't worry my other friends are too!" Mimi said with a smile, "I'll have to introduce you!" Joanne nodded uncertainly. She had never been good in new situations.

For the rest of class till the teacher started talking Mimi went on about her friends, about how one had protests behind the field house, but had an annoying girl following her around, or about how her boyfriend was trying to write a song.

Joanne was only half interested. At home, Kat would have been going on about her newest boyfriend. And Ray, Joanne's oldest friend, would be talking about how his girlfriends college was going.

Joanne was the only one who didn't date out of her friends, mostly because she had never found someone that she was interested in that was also a lesbian. It was harder than it looked on TV.

* * *

><p>Music was after socials. Joanne hadn't wanted to take it, but she needed some type of arts class for graduation, and she didn't like acting, and couldn't draw. So this was her alternative.<p>

Joanne played flute, something that she had never been particularly interested in but it was the smallest of all the instruments so was easier to carry around.

As she sat in her chair putting it together, someone walked over to her. It was a girl with black hair to her chin, and was also Latin like Mimi.

"Hi! I think you're in my English class." The girl said with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm Joanne." She said politely.

"Angel… what instrument do you play?" Angel asked.

"Flute."

"O-M-G! Me too! Let's be best friends." Angel said. And that was how Joanne got one of her first, closest friends.

**I do not own RENT or anything associated with RENT. **


	3. Chapter 3

**AU**

**Sorry if any characters are OOC**

**I do not own RENT**

It had been a month since school started and Joanne was running out of her food supplies.

"Do you ever leave zee room?" she looked up to see Élénore staring at her.

"For class and bathroom," Joanne stated.

"Do you 'ave an eating disorder?" Élénore asked.

"No." Joanne was quite positive she'd stop it if she did.

"You don't go to zee dining room. You only eat zose granola bars and peanut butter," Pointed out Élénore. Joanne stared at her, wondering how she knew. She had always waited for the girl to be out before eating them. "Maureen found zem in your drawers."

"You let her go through my stuff!? That is illegal!" Joanne almost yelled. How could someone go through another person's stuff like that?

"But do you deny only eating zee granola bars?" Élénore asked. Joanne seemed to contemplate this for a second.

"Yes, because I also ate peanut butter," the dark skinned girl said with a smug grin. The French girl rolled her eyes and stood up.

She didn't say anything as she changed into a nice sweater and skinny jeans, but then turned around to look at the future lawyer.

"You're coming wiz me. We are going to get dinner," Élénore looked at Joanne hard in the eyes.

"I don't want to," Joanne said.

"I don't want you to either, but I am not letting you rot away in this room. Zat would smell, and frankly I don't 'ave zee stomach for zat," stated Élénore before walking from the room.

Joanne knew she didn't technically have to go. There was nothing compelling her too, and Élénore wasn't the boss of her. Yet, she followed orders and quickly slipped on her shoes, shut the door and ran after the French girl.

* * *

><p>The two didn't speak as they ate. Joanne didn't want to talk to the French girl and Élénore did her best to ignore Joanne.<p>

"I am going to sit with my boyfriend. Find someone to sit wiz and stop looking so pathetic," Élénore stated before standing and walking off. Joanne sighed and looked down at her food. She was annoyed with that girl. Forcing her down here then ditching her.

She looked around the room and saw Angel sitting with Mimi in the back. With them were two boys, and silently Joanne was debating whether or not to go sit with them. That was, until in her pocket her cellphone buzzed.

She looked away and took the phone out of her pocket.

_You coming over or just gonna stare all day?_

Looking up shocked, she saw Mimi staring at her with a smile. Joanne grabbed her stuff and walked across the room to where the group sat.

"Got my message?" Mimi said with a grin as she moved her bag off of the table so Joanne could put her food tray down. "Guys, this is-"

"Joanne!" Angel said with a grin. Mimi stared at her, wondering how she knew. "We're in band together," Angel said with a shrug.

"I just switched out of that," the blonde with shaggy hair said as he looked at Joanne.

"Sorry, Joanne this is Roger, and this is Mark," Mimi said as he pointed at both boys. One had on a leather jacket, obviously thought he was some sort of rock star. The other was holding an old school video camera.

Joanne nodded at them and they went back to their conversations. She took small bites of her salad and Angel seemed to be staring at her.

"Want to practice together, later?" she asked.

"Sure," Joanne said. That was when Joanne realized that she seemed to be making friends.


End file.
